O Christmas Tree
by PikaSass
Summary: Christmas AAML! Yay! Misty's keeping a secret from her two best friends, something that concerns her past. Can Christmas get it out of her and into a possibly brighter future? Oooh the intrigue! Happy hols everyone! ^_^


DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pokémon. I swear! ^_^

A/N: Christmas fic, Christmas fic, yaaaaay! I've never done one of these before so pleeeeeeease go easy on me! You can all bash me next year if I do one then but for now just be nice! Please? lol!

Christmas Day. December 25th. The only day of the year that brings people from all walks of life together. A day nearly everyone can look forward. Those who don't look forward to it have their reasons. Their religion forbids it, it's too commercial, and the like.

Misty Waterflower seemingly didn't come under any of these categories. Quite frankly, she didn't look forward to Christmas. She didn't get suckered in by the hype and excitement of a day full of presents and candy and togetherness. 

But the difference between her and those who had a religious or commercial reason for not liking Christmas was that she had no reason. Apparently. Misty was not one to be particularly open about anything, even to her two best friends of four years, Ash and Brock. So they could see no obvious reason as to why the season always made her so low.

"I don't understand it Brock, how can she mope around like this at the most exciting time of year?" Ash asked in exasperation after witnessing her sulk of to her room in the Pokémon Centre of Viridian City at the prospect of decorating the little Christmas tree in their room.

"She's probably got her reasons, Ash" Brock said distractidly.

"I won't believe that until I hear it from her" Ash said, determination seeping through his words.

"Leave her be. Everyone has their secrets" Brock pointed out.

Ash sighed. "Well she doesn't know what she's missing. Decorating a tree is way more fun than sulking in a room, right Pikachu?"

"Pi Pika!" Pikachu eagerly agreed with its trainer as it struggled to string a paper chain round the bottom branches of the tree.

In her room, Misty was hardly sulking. She lay on her bed, staring straight up, her expression as blank as the ceiling her gaze was fixed on. Another year was nearly gone. December 25th would be an anniversary Misty would be quite happy to forget, no matter how hard she tried to block it out. This Christmas would be six years since...

"Misty! Phone!" Ash's yelling snapped Misty out of her painful memories and she bolted up in confusion. She had a phonecall? She hadn't even heard the phone ringing.

"Who is it?" she asked caustiously as she stepped out of her room.

"Violet" Ash replied simply. Misty took the phone off Ash and sighed before she spoke.

"Hello and what are you doing calling?" she greeted her sister.

"Wow, like, nice to talk to you too" Violet said sarcastically.

"Well, come on, you never call just for a friendly chit chat" Misty persisted.

"We were, like, wondering if you're coming home for Christmas" Violet said.

"No!" Misty exclaimed in horror, causing Ash and Brock to shoot raised eyebrows in her direction. "Of course I'm not!" she continued loudly.

"Aw, why not Mist?" Violet complained.

Misty lowered her voice and slightly moved out of the room as far as the cord would reach. "You know damn well why I can't go back there" she hissed viciously.

"Come on Misty, it's been six years" Violet sighed. "We haven't had you home for Christmas once in all that time."

"And your point is..."

"Look, do you think what happened that day didn't affect us too?" Violet snapped in frustration. "We just want one Christmas together so we can possibly remember a good Christmas instead of that particular one."

"I can't, I'm spending Christmas with Ash and Brock" Misty lied.

"Misty, I know for a fact that they're both going to their homes for Christmas. What are you gonna do when they go?" Violet asked.

"What would you care! I'm not going back there, especially not for Christmas!" Misty shouted. She angrily slammed down the receiver and stomped back into the lounge, trying to avoid the curious gazes of her friends.

"Is everything okay?" Brock asked hesitantly.

"Everything's fine" Misty replied shortly. She sunk into a couch and folded her arms stubbornly across her chest.

"You wanna help put the fairy lights on the tree?" Ash asked as he slowly approached her, already guessing the answer.

"Of course I don't wanna put lights on a gay tree" Misty muttered sourly.

Ash shot Brock a weary look before he sat next to Misty and sighed. "Misty...why do you hate Christmas so much?" he asked softly.

"When did it become any of your business?" Misty snapped, anger flashing in her eyes.

"Since I became your best friend and had to watch you go through this every year! I'm just worried about you. You never act like this at any other time of the year" Ash pointed out.

"You don't have to worry about me, Ash" Misty said, her eyes slightly softening. "I can take care of myself."

Ash sighed in defeat and stood back up. "Whatever you say, Misty." He gave her a somewhat sad glance and turned back to the tree with Brock and Pikachu.

Misty watched the three of them with a strange tug pulling inside of her. She hadn't decorated a tree in six years. All around the room there was holly and various decorations adorning the walls and ceilings. She knew it was too much for her.

"No..." she whispered, loud enough for only herself to hear. Without another word she rushed to the door, trying to make herself oblivious to Ash and Brock's shocked faces.

"Where on earth could she be going?" Ash asked.

"I think she just needs to clear her head. Give her time, Ash. You know this is nothing new" Brock said.

Misty ran out of the Pokémon Centre, barely noticing Viridian City's beauty when it was veiled by snow. She could only run faster, trying to block out the memories that always surfaced at Christmas. But physically running wouldn't do it. Nothing would. And with a fresh batch of tears dangerously threatning to fall she collapsed onto a park bench, ignoring the rapidly setting sun as her tears let loose.

Two hours later, Misty still hadn't returned, and the worry running through her two friends was clear for anyone to see.

"Maybe we shouldn't have brought her here" Ash said nervously, glancing briefly out the window from his position on the couch.

"What do you mean?" Brock asked.

"We said it would be good this year if just the three of us hung out for a while before we went home. I know you guys always come to Pallet with me for Christmas and you must miss home so much..." Ash trailed off.

"Well, occasionally I do miss the ten naggers" Brock grinned, referring to his younger siblings. Ash briefly smiled before he continued.

"I thought if we spent a few Christmas-type days together it would turn her round. But it's done the complete opposite" he said sadly.

"Look, obviously the whole season must get to her somehow" Brock shrugged. "I don't think we can really do much about it."

"Yeah" Ash agreed. "I just wish she'd tell me what's wrong."

Brock checked his watch and stood up with a yawn. "It's only 9.30. There's still an hour and a half before curfew. She'll make it back by then, don't worry" he tried to reassure his young friend.

"Hope so" Ash said glumly.

"If she's not back in two hours, wake me up" Brock instructed. "But I'm going to bed, it's been a hard day's travelling."

"True. G'night Brock" Ash farewelled. He heard the door to Brock's room close and gently started patting Pikachu's golden fur. The electric mouse had happily curled up on its master's lap and would've had no objection to staying there undisturbed.

"Pikachu" Ash started. He paused and looked towards the window again, almost unable to control his gaze. "I just hope she's okay" he whispered. The dimness in the room, only slightly illuminated by the lights on the tree, was affecting his will to stay awake, and he soon found himself lost in an anxious slumber.

Half an hour after Ash had dozed off, Misty stole quietly into the room, her face ravaged by the tears she had been unable to control. She noticed Ash asleep on the couch and a slight smile came to her face. He was so persistant about what was wrong with her. Why? It was none of his business if she didn't like Christmas. She didn't bug him about the hostile situation with Gary or anything like that.

She could vaguely hear carolers outside, warming people's hearts with their traditional and well harmonised meoldies. She tiptoed over to her room admist the soft singing, and froze. Something was making her turn around. She slowly swivelled round and softly sighed at the sight of the Christmas tree. It was fading in and out of visibility as the fairy lights she had refused to string up flashed on and off in a steady rhythm.

Misty slowly walked forward. There were no presents under the tree, it belonged to the Pokémon Centre, but Brock, Ash and even Pikachu had done a beautiful job of it. The various decorations almost came to life at a mere glance as angel's shadows danced with the lights.

She felt her knees give way beneath her and fell to the ground in front of the tree, staring up at it in a silent awe. What was so awe inspiring about it? She sure couldn't tell. But something had made her suddenly collapse in front of it. Was it the beauty of it, the shimmering dance of the decorations that captivated her gaze, the engulfing smell of pine maybe? She didn't know, but she wasn't moving.

At this point, Ash slightly stirred at Misty's entrance and automatically opened his eyes. Relief and a sense of worry flooded him at the sight of Misty sitting in front of the tree, her eyes glued to the tree in front of her. He couldn't figure out what was making her stay there and he had no trouble standing up, removing Pikachu from his lap and slowly walking over to her.

"Hey" he whispered, sitting beside her, cross legged on the floor.

Misty slightly jumped as she realised Ash was beside her and was instantly snapped out of her trance. "Oh...hi Ash" she said quietly, her gaze from the tree averted for a second as she met his concerned eyes.

"Where did you get to?" Ash asked cautiously.

Misty turned back to the tree. "I just needed to think" she said simply. A silence engulfed the two of them and Ash also fixed his gaze on the tree he was so proud of decorating.

"It's beautiful huh?" Ash breathed.

"I guess. I dunno" Misty shrugged.

"Well if you don't know what are you doing here?" Ash inquired.

"Again, I dunno" Misty repeated. "That tree is just..." She trailed off and bit her lip.

"Just what?" Ash probed.

"There's something about it. You guys did a fantastic job decorating it, I have to say" Misty said with a brief smile.

"You could've helped, if you wanted to" Ash pointed out.

"I didn't want to" Misty replied quickly. "And don't ask me why, I'm not going to tell you. You can't get anything out of me. I don't like Christmas, what's the big deal?"

"Like I said before Mist, I'm just worried about you. But if you can look after yourself, like you supposedly have been doing these last six Christmases I've known you, then that's fine with me. Good on you." With those words, Ash uncrossed his legs and got ready to leave.

"Wait, Ash." Misty lightly grabbed his arm, causing his stare to divert to her in confusion. She sighed and bit her lip again, desperate not to let tears fall for the millionith time that day. "I can't cope with Christmas, you're right, it's hard and I hate it, but I've got a reason. I swear to you I've got a reason."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, Misty" Ash said gently. "I'm just your friend. I keep stuff from you and you keep stuff from me, a lot of friends do, it's no biggie..."

"Ash" Misty interrupted. "Stop rambling. I want to tell you. I have to tell someone before it all explodes in front of the wrong people or something."

"If you're sure..." Ash said uncertainly.

Misty nodded and inhaled deeply before she started. "Six years ago we were all getting ready for Christmas back home. You know, the tree, the cards, all that crap. Anyways, I was ten so I was excited and all. Hardly slept a wink on Christmas Eve." She smiled at the memory and Ash giggled as he related to what she was saying.

"I know what you mean. I hate Christmas Eve. Too much waiting" he said.

"Yeah" Misty agreed. "Well, I woke up on Christmas Day and ran down the stairs, expecting to see my sisters and my mother all there by the tree, like it had been every other year since Dad died."

Ash was silently shocked. Misty only very seldomly talked about her parents, especially her father, who had died in a car accident when she was two. How could Christmas possibly bring all this out?

"But when I got there only Daisy was in the lounge. The whole house was silent. She was crying. And I _knew _something had to be wrong if Daisy was crying, she never, and I mean _never_ cries. So I walked up to her, now totally forgetting it was Christmas at all, and asked what had happened." It was at this point Misty had to stop and gain her composure before it all crumbled.

"Just take your time, Mist" Ash said reassuringly. "There's no rush, you don't have to go on."

"Yes I do" Misty said firmly. "So I asked her and she...she was holding a letter. Just one page. But I recognised it as my mother's handwriting and I started p-panicking. Daisy couldn't stop cr-crying." She started to stammer as the hardest part of the story arose.

Ash silently took this in, wondering what on earth could've happened that day to make Misty the way she was now. It would've been something that had hit her harder than any other force, emotional or physical, had ever done before.

"She finally stopped and...and handed me the letter. It only took me a minute to read, but...but...I..." Misty took a deep breath and couldn't help the two tears that flowed from her eyes. "Mom said that she had to go away. Leave us all. She didn't say where she was going or why she was going, but she made it pretty obvious by saying she was going away with someone called Craig" she said bitterly.

"Craig?" Ash repeated.

"Yeah" Misty nodded. "We'd met him a couple of times and he couldn't stand us. '_Four _girls?' he'd always exclaim. 'How on earth did you end up with four girls?! Four girls who obviously don't know manners.'"

Ash was shocked. The pieces were coming together now and it was a picture being painted that was worse than anything he could imagine.

"I don't know what he had against us" Misty sighed. "We were well behaved and polite, my sisters were fabulous swimmers by then and I was learning pretty quickly. I dunno what his problem was. But Mom had said in that letter that she was falling in love with him, more so than with our father."

"Really?" Ash asked in bewilderment, unsure of what else to say.

Misty nodded. "But she'd confirmed it. She was gone. Her room had practically been turned inside out with half her clothes and stuff gone, all her jewellery, her possesions, even the car was gone from the driveway..." She trailed off and covered her face with her hands, not wanting Ash to witness any more tears.

"Oh Misty" Ash sighed. "I'm so sorry, I never imagined..."

"I know" Misty sniffled from behind her hands. "We weren't expecting it. Especially not at Christmas. All we could guess was that Craig wanted Mom to himself, without me and my sisters. Lily found out two years ago that they got married the year after she left. They never stay in one place apparently." She sighed again and furiously wiped at the tears that had cascaded down her face. She hadn't sobbed, but the tears were uncontrollable. "Every Christmas I just get that horrible feeling I got when I saw Daisy crying. That's a sight I'll never forget. So you gotta understand why I hate Christmas, Ash. It's just so painful, it hurts me so much that I trusted and loved my mother to the ends of the earth and she up and left for some guy who couldn't stand her daughters."

"I know, I know. Oh Misty, god..." Ash couldn't find words and instead wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders as she let her first sobs escape. "I'm sorry if I got angry or exasperated with you, I had no idea. I can't believe you kept that inside for six years" he said softly, rubbing her arm in an attempt to slightly reassure her.

"I c-couldn't tell y-you, I...I dunno why, b-but...oh Ash, why did she do it?" Misty wailed, the injustice of the situation catching up on her. Why did her mother do what she did? The answer only lay in her mother herself, Ash couldn't find it.

"I don't know, Misty" Ash said honestly, letting her tears saturate his jacket. "People do crazy things when they're in love. They don't even realise it until...it's too late."

Misty shook her head. "If I ever saw her again, I'd..."

"Don't think about it" Ash said, tightening his grip around her without really realising. He carefully placed two of his fingers under her chin and tilted her head so their drastically contrasting eyes met. "Just don't."

"W-why?" Misty sniffled.

"Because you'll get yourself in a worse state than this" Ash pointed out. Their gazes on each other held for a long time, longer than they ever had before, as they each searched the others eyes for silent messages. "I hate to see you like this" Ash added quietly. 

"I hate being like this" Misty said through a small smile. "I must be such a pain."

"Not so much a pain as a frustration. But forget it. You did have your reasons, Brock was right. I should've listened to him" Ash said regretfully.

Misty shook her head. "You didn't know. No one knew. You're the first person I've told since it happened. That's why I left home, you know."

"Really?" Ash asked in surprise.

"Yeah" Misty nodded.

"You know, while we're on the whole subject of confessions, I kinda have one for you" Ash announced quietly.

"You do?" Misty asked with a raised eyebrow. She was kind of liking the feel of his arm around her shoulders. It was warm, protecting and at the same time sent chills up her spine that she didn't mind feeling.

"Yeah. Come to think of it, it's been inside of me for 6 years too" Ash realised.

"Well, is it as...devestating as mine?" Misty asked hesitantly.

"No" Ash answered simply. "Maybe just...well it might devestate you...god, I dunno" he said, almost sounding nervous.

"Ash, are you okay?" Misty inquired worriedly.

"I'm fine...just worried" Ash confessed. "So I'll say it straight out. Misty, I know that what happened to you is horrible, but you said so yourself a couple of years ago that something good can come out of something bad."

"Well then would you mind telling me what the good thing is? I'm a little confused here, Ash" Misty said.

Ash sighed and lightly laid his hand on top of hers. "Misty, ever since you joined me on this journey my life has changed. And don't go on about this being corny because there is a point" he smiled. "Somewhere along the way, I don't know how, when or why it happened...I fell in love with you. Actually I shouldn't use that in the past tense because I am still in love with you."

As he had expected, Misty's eyes grew wide and he could feel her slightly tensing at his words. She looked at him in what appeared to be surprise but a minimal amount of shock was there. In fact, she was smiling.

"I hope you're not fooling with my mind here, Ash. Because that's something I've been keeping for six years too. I loved and love you, and if you're doing this outta pity I hope you realise you'll be breaking my heart..."

Ash on impulse to her confirmation immediatly planted his lips to hers in a kiss that both silenced and pleasured her at the same time. They slowly pulled away, their eyes forever locked into each other and smiles reflecting off the both of them.

"Wow. This Christmas tree did do something then" Misty marvelled. "There was a reason I was drawn to it."

"There was?" Ash asked dumbfoundly.

"Uh-huh. It drew me to you in the process" Misty smiled. At this statement Ash could only smile back and didn't hesitate to share another kiss with her, their shadows illuminated by the flickering lights, their love confirmed through the horrors of Misty's story. 

A/N: It is late so I won't say much, just thanks for reading, hope you review, and have an awesome Christmas everyone! PARTY HARD FOR NEW YEARS!!! ^_^


End file.
